Tewksbury drug bust yields $100,000 worth of cocaine and fentanyl

Three Tewksbury residents were arraigned on drug charges Friday, a day after they were arrested when a search warrant turned up approximately $100,000 worth of cocaine and fentanyl, officials said.

Wilson Soto, 49, Yojanel Soto, 20, and Cristina Richardson, 48, were all charged with trafficking more than 200 grams of cocaine, trafficking fentanyl, and conspiracy to violate the drug laws, the Middlesex district attorney’s office said in a statement Friday.

Wilson Soto was also charged with identity fraud and possessing a false RMV document, the statement says.

Tewksbury police, assisted by State Police, Billerica police, and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, executed a search warrant around 6 a.m. Thursday at a home on Ames Hill Drive, officials said.

Authorities found 950 grams of cocaine, 86 grams of suspected fentanyl and more than $8,000 in cash inside the home, the district attorney’s office said. An additional 558 grams of fentanyl and 99 grams of cocaine were found in a vehicle taken from the scene, it said.

Officials also found a 9-month-old child inside the home, who was taken to a relative’s home after the Department of Children and Families was notified, the district attorney’s office said.

A judge set bail at $500,000 cash for Wilson Soto, $50,000 cash for Yojanel Soto, and $25,000 cash for Richardson. All three defendants were ordered to wear GPS monitoring bracelets, remain under house arrest, and surrender their passports should they make bail, officials said.

“We are hopeful that the seizure of this massive quantity of the powerfully addictive/deadly opioid (fentanyl) and stimulant (cocaine) in Tewksbury, as well as the diligent prosecution of these alleged offenders that are spreading this poison, will significantly reduce the number of future overdoses and related fatalities,” Tewksbury police Chief Timothy Sheehan said in the statement.

The investigation is ongoing and might yield further charges, the district attorney’s office said.